Kelvin Gastelum gives prediction on upcoming title fight
At UFC 234, Kelvin Gastelum will be fighting for a UFC title for the first time in his career. He will be taking on current middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker in the main event.
Not only will it be Gastelum’s first title fight, but he will also have to go to Australia to fight in Whittaker’s backyard. Although Whittaker is champion, Gastelum is still confident that he will come out on top. He is expecting to hear Bruce Buffer say ‘And New.’
“I’m predicting a first-round knockout,” Gastelum said during a recent media day in Los Angeles. “I’ve put in so much work and I feel so confident in my abilities and confident in what I’ve done in the sport that I’m predicting a first-round knockout.”
If Gastelum does indeed win, he knows defending his title will be tough. The middleweight division is seeing a rise in new talent. With that, Gastelum knows he has a lot of possible fights.
“You’ve got guys like Borrachina [Paulo Costa] and you’ve got guys like Stylebender [Israel Adesanya] you’ve got Rob Whittaker who is still go going to be in the mix, he’s not going to go anywhere after the fight, you know what I mean?” Gastelum said. “You got Yoel Romero in the mix. The champion of this division has got his work cut out for him in his next few fights and I plan on doing just that, bring a little more legitimacy to the division, you know what I mean? For awhile it was GSP, and interim title, and then, so yeah. I want to be able to be the guy who brings legitimacy to the division.
“I know that if I clip them, anybody, I mean anybody in the world, not just Rob, anybody, when I cut my left hand in, he’s going down,” Gastelum added. “But yeah, Rob has a lot of heart. I’m expecting a hard-fought fight. But, at the same time, I’m so prepared for this opportunity that I’m expecting it not to even be close.”
